Udden Eager to Serve, Give Foxborough Students His All on School Committee

Foxborough resident Stephen Udden cares more about his family and community than anything else in the world, which is exactly why he’s decided to run for school committee on April 30th.

“Our community is very important to us,” Udden said of he and his family. … “I’m completely affected by what goes on at the school committee and the school department and [with] the quality of education I want and the taxes we pay. I want as much bang for the dollar that I can get. If I can be part of that I think I bring a skill set and knowledge in town government to understand the bigger picture.”

Udden and his wife, Katherine, have called Foxborough “home” together for nearly 13 years and have two children, Sophia and Tess, deeply rooted within the public school system. Both children currently attend Ahern Middle School.

Academics are important in the Udden household, as is volunteerism, community pride and good old fashioned fun.

“We are blessed that both kids are hitting the honor roll,” Udden said. “We work very hard to keep their academics up. It’s extremely important to us. … We are the type of people that brings the lasagna to the family who needs it because that’s the type of people Foxborough has and that’s the type of people I want my children to grow up among.

“But children also need to have fun. Sometimes they just need to play in the mud and get dirty, or take the time to learn the guitar or go to a baseball game.”

Udden says he enjoys volunteering and gives back to the community whenever he can because it’s in his family’s DNA.

“One of the things I always wanted to do in my life was go into the service,” Udden said. “My father was a Navy guy, my brother was an Airborne Ranger. … I wanted to go into the Navy but couldn’t make a deal with the recruiters that I wanted. It’s always bummed me out that I never got to serve and contribute to something that was bigger than me and something that I could be proud of and look back on and say I did it.”

He found what he was looking for years later in Foxborough after taking an active role in town.

“I’m in town for probably five or six years just living and leaf blowing, cutting the lawn and I start going to town meetings and get bit by the bug,” Udden said. “Not as a political junkie but as somebody who actually wants to start paying attention to the goings on in town.”

Udden liked what he saw and chose to get involved. He was appointed to the town’s Advisory Committee and served for three years.

“We all work very hard and we don’t ask for anything in return,” Udden said of the Advisory Committee. “It’s people that really care from every aspect of the community that is Foxborough and we took it very seriously. I was one of those people. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”

Udden left AdCom after his three-year term last spring to volunteer to complete Daniel Iagatta’s term as Foxborough’s representative to the Southeastern Regional Vocational School Committee in Easton. Iagatta passed away on April 21, 2012 at the age of 49.

Udden was appointed to the position by Foxborough’s Board of Selectmen and School Committee in April 2012 and currently holds that position in Easton.

Grateful for his time on the Southeastern School Committee, Udden says the next step in his community involvement is to hold a seat on the town’s school board.

“Now here I am thinking how else can I serve the town,” Udden said. “It’s through the school committee. [That role] is a true service to the town. This is something that is fulfilling to me. It is something that I want to do and of paramount importance is something my daughters and wife support me doing.”

Udden recently sat down with Foxborough Patch for a Q&A about his campaign and why he’s running for school committee. Here’s what he had to say:

Patch: Did your experience on the Southeastern Regional Vocational School Committee influence your decision to run for Foxborough’s school committee?

Udden: Yes, it did. What I’m learning at Southeastern is that I’m not part of my town … I am the representative of my town for a regional school with nine other towns on it. So I’m truly part of a multi-municipal government board whose decisions directly affect the students and their families of not just my town but other towns that I don’t have the depth of knowledge for and I have to be sensitive of that.

I have a good understanding of what the demographics, socio-economics and make-up of [the Foxborough] community are.

[Southeastern] taught me that I’m comfortable with running for Foxborough school committee. I could have learned very quickly in my Southeastern position this was not for me but the opposite seems to be true.

I’m not as interested in a pretty new carpet on the administrator’s floor as I am doing something that can really kick up a program that needs a lift or even open people’s eyes to a program that is absent and consider adding it.

Patch: Are you still on the Southeastern school committee?

Udden: I still hold my seat at Southeastern and could technically hold both seats at the same time but I have no plans nor do I have the time to hold both seats. Should I win in Foxborough, I will – and already have been – looking for someone to adequately fill my seat on that board.

Patch: Why run for Foxborough School Committee now?

Udden: My Southeastern experience catapulted my decision to run for it this spring.

I’m comfortable doing it.  Comfortable achieving that goal. I’m comfortable in this environment. Only area that I am out of my comfort zone is campaigning.

But to answer the question, I think I would be a really good and different catalyst of chemistry on the board. I think I bring a different way of approaching things and one of those things is my absence of fear of asking questions that may be considered stupid.

AdCom helps that. I will ask awkward and hard questions. In some cases I will throw myself in front of the bus if nobody else is asking the question to get the paint out of the can.

Patch: What are the issues you care about most regarding Foxborough’s school system?

Udden: There are three things ahead of us right now that are important in the next three years.

We all have socio-economic limits; we all have different family dynamics, different attitudes, religions, focuses, etc. I don’t want robots to be coming off the assembly line. At a minimum I think our school system should have and be continually working to having as many opportunities and experiences and programs as possible. Available to the student body, present and future, that their families think are the right thing for them to do.

1. Academic excellence is at the top of the list for me. Never be satisfied and don’t rest on our laurels. Last year it was printed in Boston Magazine that we were 37th in the state – one of the top states in the country – and there was a lot of celebration to have that ranking. That is OK but we are 37th in the number one state in the country that is 25th or so in the world. So let’s not pat ourselves on the back too much. If we are up at No. 1 or No. 2 let’s not rest on that. If we can even get there with the constraints of socio-economics and availability of funds, etc. If we got to No. 1 then what we should be then is innovators that people want to model from us and then we should have programs that share those best practices and knowledge in the most professional and elegant way possible.
2. Second thing I’m keeping my eye on is enrollment. Let’s say there’s two or three different sets of data out there. The high school is declining a little bit but the elementary and middle schools are on the rise. We just cut the ribbon on a renovated high school. The school is roughly 1,050-seat capacity and we are between 800 and 900 students currently so the school is ready for more. What we need to do is have people in the school board working with our administrative staff to make sure we know what’s on the horizon and how it is going to affect our student body enrollment numbers. With academic excellence and enrollment balancing by paying attention to what the future needs are we can always look at the horizon as opposed to being reactive. That’s one of the things I will bring.
3. Number three is capital (dollars spent). It goes without saying that it is our job to represent the students and to control costs. We have a little bit less than a $30 million budget now – right around 4 percent increase. We are spending a lot of money. What percentage of graduates are getting into higher level schools? I know we are monitoring that. If we need to buy 10 microscopes I’m going to ask do we need 15? And if they say no I’m going to ask if we can do it with seven. Or, can we buy seven and save up for an electron scanning microscope because we are going to need that in the future because students will be required to use it in their careers. Watch capital rather than just say ‘yes’ to things that come across the desk.

Patch: What, above all else, should be maintained in schools?

Udden: Academic achievement. STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Some schools are inclined to focus on those because there is data out there that says this is what we need.

By the time I’m in my 60s or 70s we could have a shortage in this country of nearly one million professional medical doctors. We’ve got to start at kindergarten getting that pipeline full to prepare children who may want to go into that field.

If I’m elected, the school department will hear from me on a regular basis that I think our school system should be a place where students feel genuinely loved and cared about by the people in the school system. It doesn’t mean we have to pay for their college or get them a puppy but that they know that everybody involved in the entire sphere of what is public education in Foxborough has a foundation that we love our students. We are not doing this to raise our property values it’s because we love our children.

Patch: Why should residents vote for you on April 30th?

Udden: I’m a complete straight shooter. I care deeply about this town. Above all, I don’t want my family name to have anything less associated with it than caring, kind and generous with their time.

I’m honest, I will listen, I’m approachable, I’m consistent. I have a very good attendance record to meetings. I give it my all.

I’m bringing to school committee a skill set, particularly with what is ahead of us with capital expenses, academic achievement … I bring aspects of my professional experience and my desire to serve the town that are necessary to working on a school committee.

Udden is running for one of two open seats on the school committee against current members Martha Slattery and Katie Adair as well as former member and now challenger, Kate Kominsky. The annual town election is scheduled for Tuesday, April 30 at Ahern Middle School. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

“I really do love this town and I really do love the kids in this town,” Udden said. “I tear up when I watch a concert because these kids are growing up so darn fast in front of us and there’s a lot of people here in town that really genuinely care how our kids come out and how we can help other kids when their families are going through problems.”

Udden is one of those people.